Intech Investment Management LLC Has $8.01 Million Stock Position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL)

Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Aflac Incorporated (NYSE:AFL) by 39.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 47,207 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Aflac were worth $8,012,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AFL. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 7,001.0% in the 2nd quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC now owns 667,706 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 658,303 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 10,878.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 559,903 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,597,000 after buying an additional 554,803 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Aflac by 26.6% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,929,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $172,338,000 after buying an additional 405,847 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Aflac during the first quarter worth $27,588,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Aflac by 6.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,807,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,319,000 after purchasing an additional 285,576 shares during the period. 67.44% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on AFL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Aflac from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays started coverage on Aflac in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Aflac from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Aflac from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Aflac from $84.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.93.

Aflac Stock Performance

Shares of Aflac stock opened at $112.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.96. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.66 and its 200-day moving average is $100.24. Aflac Incorporated has a one year low of $75.07 and a one year high of $115.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.08 and a quick ratio of 0.08.

Aflac (NYSE:AFL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.16 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.47. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.30 billion. Aflac had a return on equity of 16.34% and a net margin of 22.02%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 40.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.84 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Aflac Incorporated will post 7.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Aflac Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 20th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 20th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Aflac’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.12%.

About Aflac

Aflac Incorporated, through its subsidiaries, provides supplemental health and life insurance products. The company operates through Aflac Japan and Aflac U.S. segments. The Aflac Japan segment offers cancer, medical, nursing care, work leave, GIFT, and whole and term life insurance products, as well as WAYS and child endowment plans under saving type insurance products in Japan.